Welcome to the frontier. GKG is taking a stab at one of Traveller's earliest motifs - travel and see unknown worlds. Behind a fantastic cover - we get new worlds. Not cookie cutter worlds but worlds that are realistic and gritty. Tied closely to the Clement Sector but with a dash of imagination can take you to any SFRPG universe. They are clearly grounded in the Hard SF tradition - Space Opera lovers might find something here. But, it is clearly more Star Trek than Star Wars. The lower rating is the feeling that there should be more that is uncovered in terms of mysteries - maybe that is the realm of adventures - but I do feel worlds should have multiple enigmas and adventures are there to play within those locales or to solve the mysteries -- however the setup for the enigma should take place in the world splatbook. Maybe, your opinion is different... however, these are certainly worth one's money. Keep up the excellent work GKG!

A world of the frontier. GKG is moving from High Space Opera to a game of exploration and the unknown. In some of the best detailed worlds - we get another in the form of Winston. While there is a certain vibe associated with with the Clement Sector - this world could be plunked down almost anywhere in a Traveller or SFRPG universe. For GKG is committed to building better worlds - this product shows a refinement of their thinking. They have moved from clone worlds (generic worlds albeit with some interesting attributes -- yes, I am looking at you Slaren or Chance) to building incredibly detailed geographies. If this product is missing something - it is a biosphere - however, I speculate that a Bestiary of the Clement Sector and beyond is in the works. Granted it is hard to a biosphere not to look like a Monster Manual but at the same time as the campaign advances us from the closure of the conduit and into unknown space - beasties - short & nasty and large & lumbering are bound to make their appearance. Look forward to seeing more brave new worlds, when no woman or man has gone before. Keep up the excellent work!

Yet another, deckplan book --- almost, meh...as Mongoose keeps turning these things out. But, wait this is an extraordinary ship with amazing details. Furthermore, it contains phenomenal art by the incredibly talented Ian Stead - back when deckplans were re-invented by Mongoose. I was incredibly excited. But, as ship began to resemble another ship...my frustration. GKG must have heard my sighs and moans - for they have created a phenomenal traveller ship not seen the likes of CT FASA Traveller deckplans - and even those - the best illustrations were on blueprint sized boxes. Kudos to GKG for creating a truly beautiful looking ship and interesting capacities that I want to plunk into My Traveller Universe - right now! Wait, there is more, the deckplans come with mock recruitment posters in English and German! (although, why there are beefeater hats in the future...when berets seem more practical in a zero-g setting). And, the best part - purple pose...I love when there is a bit of narrative that gets me in the mood of events as they unfold. Too much of Traveller has been about Tables & Charts and deckplans - GKG combines the best of both worlds -- keep this high standard -- please. If you are looking for a cool ship - this is it. Criticism: well some of the renderings could have been done two per page as there are some small areas or additional craft that leave lots of white space - might save on toner but looks odd.

Ain't no misbehaving...this is a close as the OGL will allow independents to push the limits. Yes, players can get into all sorts of mischief hooks - and now the Referee can have 21x6 plots. Invaluable as fillers between a campaign or one-shots. They are fleshed out as the setup and the 1D6 possible resolutions. These series are good additions for Referees caught in a pickle - all adventures are set in the Clement Sector which is best described as a Hard Space Opera. Excellent hooks, although, I wish the OGL would be a little bit more lax in allowing publishers to explore the darker realms of Traveller that fanzines long exploited. Come on, Marc - what do you say.

Purple pose, intelligent design, nice art art. What is wrong...well it is a single deckplan...plus, I would have expected some adventure seeds and variants of the starship (for all Starships are multipurpose in Traveller - A Scoutship may be pressed into the theater of war or a merchant ship may be tasked to do a survey) - none of these variants are explored. Let us hope when they get compiled into print form that these bells and whistles get added in.

Newly established colonies that are more Hard SF than traditional Space Opera Traveller thus making a better fit for Hard SF variants like Traveller 2300 or other SF games out there. Well reasoned and well thought out worlds that do a great job of making worlds realistic. There is the suggestion of something mysterious waiting - so for Referees who need to introduce engimas - look no further than the Dawn Colonies. Excellent poser art and world renderings complete the package.

Spica has come up with a highly believable and credible Solar System perfect for any frontier exploration based space opera game, like Traveller but not exclusively Traveller. It does use the Traveller principles for world generation, but, gives it a highly realistic edge to it. Accompanying the system, there is an open ended enigma/adventure whose resolution could be grounded in Hard SF assumptions or one can go the route of traditional Space Opera. The artwork although, CGI is fantastic and text really manages to evoke a sense of wonder and masterfully captures the essence of a desolate alien environment. This is Traveller done right. Keep up the excellent work Spica and I look forward to when these worlds get compiled together for some sort of print product.

“So…you meet in the Starport Bar and in walks in…” that is the standard basic setup for many of a Traveller/SFRPG adventure. But, there are countless other locales other than the lounge, bar, holo-brothel, warehouse district and hanger to a Starport that good Referees usual can wing it. However, if the Referee is stumped in steps Gypsy Knight Games with this nice little supplement that gives more places to fuel the Referee’s imagination. Often there is a debate – what is a Starport – the consensus is that that it is a small urban conglomeration growing up around the landing areas – thus, it is akin to an airport or seaport. This supplement takes the viewpoint that it is a seaport littered throughout are useful services for players as well as traditional hives of scum and villainy. This product is highly recommended to round out descriptions of Starports for Traveller or any SFRPG.

Gypsy Knight Games has produced yet another impressive adventure – this one more Star Trek-like involving the investigation of a ship and in particular a crew member gone missing in the frontier edges of the Clement Sector. The adventure is well written with interesting pregens supplied and a standard mystery to be uncovered. If I do have one criticism of the adventure is that it is rather linear rather than soapbox thus, it might be better suited for a convention game rather than campaign play and some of the basic premises require the suspension of belief – all these are addressed in the playtest notes. However, it is a solid adventure that does require a couple of readings and a little preparation by the Referee and hence cannot simply be run out of the box. It is hoped when the adventure migrates to deadtree/hardcopy that player’s aids in the form of visual ads and more art can be employed to invoke a greater sense of isolation and alien-ness of the environment. However, I understand that these add-up in terms of cost but they would give the adventure – a sense of wonder that is the essence of Science Fiction.

Spica does it again. Using the baseline of a generic Traveller universe (ever evolving Outer Veil Campaign setting), it has has decided to detail one of the major big ships of the universe tapping in the same vein as FASA did many moons ago with the King Richard deckplan and supplement by detailing a mega-liner. While there is the Outer Veil implied, this product can be used for any Traveller Universe or generic Space Opera campaign.

Spica did a careful rewrite of the rules for passengers and listing of hazards of a megaliner for this supplement. In addition, they have created an ideal passenger manifest with shades of different personalities that allow the Referee to reuse the same NPCs in different ways or in different circumstances a number of times. There is an alien race and countless adventure hooks. Rounding things out there is a deckplan of the said starliner.

All in all, an excellent product - the only drawback is the lack of art - save for the beforementioned deckplans and the cover - there is no art. I realize that art would have greatly increased the cost and production costs, as well as inflate the page count - but I would have loved to see these NPCs rendered by some artist. That said, this is a keeper and a worthy successor to FASA's King Richard.

Look forward to seeing more from Spica in the near future, even as it is set in the not too distant future guys - you produce great stuff that really needs to in dead tree.

An interesting adventure that is guaranteed to appeal to Space Opera and Hard SF enthusiasts alike yet accuse it being ruined by the other. Maintains the nice balance between hard and soft SF in a Traveller adventure that takes place in the ATU. Provides lots of cinematic details (not unsurprising as the writer is a screenwriter) that take you from this world and into a completely different world. Lots of stock and schlock villains/NPCs that are guaranteed to keep players amused for hours. It is geared toward organized sandbox play - in which the basic premise of the adventure is laid out but multiple possibilities reside in its execution and conclusion. Excellent job for GKG for tying so nicely together with their ATU. Look forward to more offerings. Only beef is the lack of character portraits and that it took a couple of re-readings (as any good adventure needs anyhow).

When is an Alternative Traveller Universe not an ATU but Alternative to the Official/Original Traveller Universe? When it is using the OGL Foreven Sector, despite, quite a large number of typos - this is an excellent introduction to DSL Ironworks version of Foreven. Most seasoned, including, myself has taken a stab at writing their own version of Foreven, what makes this one particularly noteworthy is that it is attempting to unify previous fragments with brand new game concepts and create a sector of swashbuckling adventure. However, this is only Book 0 - thus, really a precursor of the goodness to come.

I was thoroughly enchanted by this short introduction and the careful logic that went into the re-imagining of Foreven. It is as good or better than what I created doing the same thing but in very much amateur production. Exceptional graphics and well thought interconnected histories gives a whole new set of lenses to view Traveller history (long biased from the vantage point of the Imperials). Here we have a Sector that has been Zhodani, Darrian and even Swordies have nestled claims. What's more, it was the forgotten front in the Frontier Wars between the Imperium and the Zhodani Consulate - but truly as a frontier - much as Africa was in the First and Second World War - which did not prevent or halt conflict - just gave it a very different hue than the conflict in Europe.

DSL Ironworks has created a great product, with a real retro-Traveller taking one back to the heady days of either the last days of CT or beginnings of MT. When there was an Imperial Campaign that was moving...Mongoose has managed to capture some of this energy but I fear not nearly enough - let great companies like DSL blaze a new frontier. I hope that these "books" get a proper editor and get compiled into a deadtree version. Keep up the excellent work!

An excellent introduction, that can be best described as Traveller-lite, although one will still need the main Mongoose Rulebook or CT's LBB - this book introduces the Referee to the exciting worlds of this Alternate Traveller Universe. Essentially, providing sand for the sandbox play to come should they wish to invest in the further supplements that GKG produces. As such, it is a skeleton of a product but also carries with the muscle of the setting. So, for some this might be aberration or undead creature, but for others, it is logical continuity of an already fantastic line of products. Referees are encouraged to build their own games from the assumptions that flow from Traveller and this product - thus the sandbox. However, GKG has provided a rich backdrop that you will be wanting to learn more about this ATU - so, support them, and buy the other products of this fantastic company.

Paul Elliott and Zozer Games, redefine Traveller not as dreary and uninspiring Space Opera heuristic but a heuristic for all types of Science Fiction games. In this case, Zozer Games, with Attack Squadron Roswell returns to the same wonderful mix of Hard and Soft by using Traveller to explore the genre of Alien Invasion films of the 1950s. For this provides an excellent skeleton building upon great Traveller products of the past like the flawed COACC but does not quite reach the global scope that Traveller demands. One should certainly buy this product, if they are looking to expand one’s own Traveller universe either in the direction suggested by the ATU or as I said, with modification, the OTU. For as I read the supplement, images of how to incorporate these concepts into my TNE game floated past. Certainly, a few good campaigns can be set in the 1950s, as Atomic Age Cthulhu or the author’s own GURPS Atomic Age shows the time period is a rich era for role playing…and the sheer profusion of films novels highlighting this pulpish yet hard science fiction makes it perfect for Traveller players who crave the mixture of hard and soft. Thus, I wholeheartedly recommend this product.

Unquestionably, somebody in need of wanting to introduce more pragmatism and grit into their Traveller game would be wise to pick this book up. And, those like me, whose goal of the reaching for the stars not as just destination points but fully realized places replete with cultures and different ways of doing things yet grounded in the sensibilities that these new worlds will carry the problems of the old into them, will certainly welcome the addition of this book into their Traveller collection. Those wanting to dream about the easy life in the Stars should go back to playing Star Wars/Star Trek versions of Traveller. Zozer Games, I hope will return to this milieu, and create more supplements and adventures for it – and thus hopefully inspire the Grand Old Game itself.